"When you go up to the Temple Mount with Moshe Feiglin and the Manhigut crowd," reported Manhigut Yehudit activist DBL, "you understand -- one hundred percent -- that we will succeed in rectifying the State of Israel and that we are well on our way to accomplishing our goal. Our very presence there helps to change the present reality."

DBL joined Moshe Feiglin and other Manhigut Yehudit members on this Tuesday morning for the monthly Manhigut ascent to the Temple Mount. "The Temple Mount is the place where the destruction of the Temple and its lack in our lives is most acutely felt." DBL continued. "The most blatant reminder of the exile in our day is the exile mentality to which our State relentlessly clings. When you go up to the Temple Mount, you have to steel yourself for some really awful humiliation. The police searches and warnings -- reserved for religious looking Jews only -- that if you dare move your lips in prayer on the Mount you will be arrested and blacklisted from ever entering the Mount again, are painful reminders of the exile mentality that still plagues us.

But when you hear Moshe Feiglin talking on the Temple Mount, you can actually see the new, belief based reality unfold before your very eyes. While still feeling the pain of the destruction and exile, you become filled with hope and enthusiasm. The policemen who guarded us listened to Moshe intently and seemed to catch on. The Arab who scrutinized us to make sure we didn't dare pray, understood as well. The Manhigut group on the Mount is not there to dream. It's there to make the dream a reality."

"Close your eyes and picture the way the Temple will look," Moshe Feiglin instructs his listeners. "Imagine all the Jewish people walking here. Imagine the glorious Temple, towering 50 meters high. Imagine the Priests scurrying back and forth; imagine the heavenly songs of the Levites."

But in addition to imagining the future, Moshe continually emphasizes what small steps need to be taken today to create the belief based reality. "Do you see that policeman there?" he asks the group. "Today, he is here to make sure that we do not pray. When there will be a Jewish State, he will also stand in the same spot. Everything may look the same -- the same policeman and the same visitors. But instead of preventing people from worshipping the G-d of Israel in this holy place, he will finally be helping to preserve Jewish values. He will gladly make sure that everybody who enters the Mount is well-versed in the laws of the sanctity of the Temple Mount, that every Jew has ritually immersed in a mikvah, has removed his shoes, and does not enter areas forbidden by Jewish law. This change in consciousness is the epitome of the belief based revolution. And complete Jewish sovereignty on the Temple Mount is its quintessential expression." The policeman smiled slightly and nodded his head in agreement.

People often ask how it is that religious Jews go up to the Temple Mount. They are under the false impression that Jewish law prohibits entering the Mount at all. "Pray on the Temple Mount?" they ask in astonishment. "Why would you want to do that???" There is no question that there are places on the Temple Mount that are strictly forbidden. But the facts are that Jewish sages and scholars throughout the centuries have ascended the Temple Mount and prayed there, always abiding by the laws of proper honor for the Mount and strict observance of the boundaries over which it is forbidden to step. These boundaries are also well delineated today by Rabbinical authorities and observant visitors stay far away from them.

"The issue is not whether it is permissible or not to enter the Temple Mount," DBL added. "The problem is that today's religious leadership is petrified of leading this nation. They do not want to rock the status quo boat, in which the State is secular, with the observant people providing the spice of Jewish tradition. But Manhigut Yehudit aims to take responsibility for the Jewish nation. It strives for a state motivated by Jewish values and led by people who believe in G-d. As with all our other woes, the place that the lack of authentic Jewish leadership is most starkly felt is on the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is also the place that symbolizes the revitalization process that has already begun."

"Our visit to the Temple Mount was absolutely inspiring," DBL sums up. It seems that even the policemen were moved by Moshe Feiglin's talk. At the end of the visit, one of the policemen surreptitiously approached Moshe and said to him, "In the end you will succeed. May that happen soon!"

You too can join groups ascending the Temple Mount every morning. For details and information on the preparations required by Jewish law prior to ascending the Mount, visit the Temple Institute Website.